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Hi Ben,I think this is a very nice set of use cases, and I was also very interested in the discussion with Roy M that ensued. These use cases give good examples of "what" a user might want to do with FES data and "why". I think it's just as valuable to look in a bit more detail at "how" they might want to do things. This is another dimension through "use case space", if you like.
One could divide methods of use into "get and forget" and "get and reuse". Let me explain further:
1) A decision-maker responding to an emergency situation needs to get the right data as quickly as possible to help make the decision. After having done this the data can be thrown away, or perhaps archived for auditing purposes. Anyway, the data aren't reused. It probably doesn't matter too much if the data have been manipulated in some way to expedite the process.
2) A scientist performing a detailed analysis on a dataset (e.g. a reanalysis) needs to look at the data from a whole load of directions and perform lots of analysis tasks. In this case the user will probably want the original data (probably in the original data files), and will keep the data over an extended period of time. The scientist needs to be confident that the data have not been manipulated by the server.
One could also think of these cases as being "real time use" and "offline use" respectively. The priorities of each case are different: in case (1) the emphasis is on getting data quickly (requiring a "clever" server); in case (2) the emphasis is on being confident that the data are "correct" (requiring a "dumb" server). Scientists can also operated in "real time" mode when performing initial explorations on data, prior to detailed analysis.
I think WCS fits in best with case (1) because case (2) can be satisfied simply by serving files in a sensible format (i.e. CF-NetCDF) from some kind of file server. Clearly there are some broad-brush generalizations here, but do others basically agree with this?
Cheers, Jon Ben Domenico wrote:
Hi all,I will put these onto the GALEON wiki as soon as I get a chance, but, in the meantime, I've listed below a relatively concise set of use cases that I believe capture the requirements for many of the different data types we deal with in the metoceans (Fluid Earth Sciences?) community.-- Ben
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